Dr. Claudine Gay has been wrapped in controversy as of late, as she failed to make a statement on whether students will be disciplined after practicing antisemitism on campus. Over the weekend, hundreds of staff members rallied together to sign a petition. It requested the school administration to allow her to continue serving as the president of Harvard University (via Reuters).
On Dec. 12, 2023, Harvard Corporation released a statement noting that they have complete faith in Gay’s leadership abilities. It is important to note that Harvard Corporation is the highest governing board in the university. It also has the power to fire the president of the university. On Tuesday, the 13-member body stated, “In this tumultuous and difficult time, we unanimously stand in support of President Gay” (via BBC).
With Claudine Gay making headlines, many are curious about her family life. The university president has been married to her husband, Christopher Afendulis, for quite some time. While we don’t know much about her little one, her son was born in 2006, during her final year as an assistant professor at Stanford University (via The Sun).
Everything we know about Claudine Gay’s husband, Christopher Afendulis
Christopher C. Afendulis is an information systems analyst at Stanford University, working for the Department of Health Research and Policy. He has previously served as a senior research analyst for the same (via Stanford University).
His academic interests lie in the economics of health care, covering fields like financing the Medicare and Medicaid programs, effects of managed care on the health care system, and provision of long-term care.
Claudine Gay’s husband completed his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and Ph.D. from Harvard University. After acquiring his degrees, he worked as a lecturer at the Harvard Medical School from 2006 to 2015.
The couple welcomed their first child (a baby boy) in 2006, which also marks Claudine’s last year at Stanford and Christopher’s first year at Harvard.
